With an increasing number of patients in states now banning abortion while traveling for the procedure, Planned Parenthood announces it will soon open its first cellular abortion clinic in the country, in southern Illinois.
“Our purpose is to decrease the number of miles other people have to travel now to access care. . . and find them where they are,” said Yamelsie Rodriguez, president of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis and southwestern Missouri, he said in an interview with NPR.
The cell clinic will begin providing consultations and distributing abortion pills later this year. It will work in Illinois, where abortion remains legal but will be able to move closer to the borders of neighboring states, shortening the distance for many patients for the procedure.
“It gives us a lot of flexibility as to where to be,” Rodriguez said.
Illinois has a center for other people from other parts of the Midwest and South who have been unable to have abortions in their home countries following the U. S. Supreme Court’s ruling. UU. de this summer that Roe v. Wade annulled.
Anticipating this possibility, Planned Parenthood opened a giant clinic in 2019 in Fairview Heights, Illinois, across the border from St. Brown. Louis, Missouri had some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, even before the court approved Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s. The decision by the Health Organization and state officials almost without delay to enforce the abortion ban as a reaction to that.
The Fairview Heights clinic is expected to serve about 14,000 patients traveling from across the region a year, a construction that “is materializing much, much faster than expected,” Rodriguez said. “We just want more access points. “
The cellular facility, installed inside an RV, will come with a small waiting room, a lab and two exam rooms. First, it will provide a medical abortion up to 11 weeks gestation, officials said. It will eventually offer surgical abortions, probably starting next year.
Patients who see physical care providers at the cell clinic will follow the same protocol as those who come to a permanent Planned Parenthood facility, Planned Parenthood’s lead medical director in the region told Dr. Anna S. Simpson. Colleen McNicholas. They take mifepristone, the first of two drug protocols approved through the Food and Drug Administration — on-site. Recommendation is presented on the other drug, misoprostol, which is taken later.
“The only thing that’s going to replace is the fact that they would possibly only have to drive five hours out of nine hours,” he said.
One of the first responsibilities will be the most productive routes for the cell clinic. The organization analyzes knowledge of where patients come from and sees health care facilities, churches and other places as potential points of prevention. Another vital care will be the protection and safety of patients and staff, McNicholas said.
Officials say it’s possible they will expand to other cellular devices in the future. If the cell clinic concept is successful, it may be part of a broader strategy to find new tactics to succeed in post-Roe patient abortions. An organization called Just the Pill also recently announced that it would provide medical abortion care at cell clinics to patients in the western and midwestern United States.
“We all look for paints in combination to deal with the exponential backlog in the number of patients traveling from no-go states to what we call ‘safe haven states’ for abortion care,” Yamelsie Rodriguez said. “It’s a time when everyone is on deck. “
Planned Parenthood reports that between June, when Dobbs’ resolution was issued, and August, the number of patients from Missouri or Illinois nearly quadrupled at its Fairview Heights clinic. The organization is also preparing to open a new family circle that plans a clinic in Rolla, Missouri, in early November. Rodriguez said this is part of a broader effort to expand services, adding contraception, STI testing and care for transgender people, and to provide reproductive health care in underserved rural spaces in the state.
Roe’s ouster likely sparked battles between states with a patchwork of other abortion laws. “abortion tourism”. That proposal failed, but legal experts say it’s not transparent how conflicts between state legislations will be resolved in the future.